No. 154: Jobs, biker coffee and why we call him Mr. Hogan

Sha na na's Rob Leonard: Smart enough to get out of the business.

August 19, 2016

Happy Friday: A great end o’ the week, everybody. Only 16 days before it’s time to stow the white bucks, so let’s make the most of them. Copiague’s bluegrass festival, perhaps? Or how about the annual Potunk Masonic Temple pig roast in Westhampton? And let’s not forget Riverhead’s Polish Town Fair and Polka Festival, featuring Mike Costa and The Beat. (One-two-three, one-two-three …)

Gail Borden received a patent on this day in 1856 for his process of condensing milk by vacuum. In 1927, Philo Farnsworth completed the first all-electronic television system, which he called the Image Dissector. “There’s nothing on it worthwhile,” he said about later programming.

Happy birthday Charles Wang, Bill Clinton and Robert Plant.

Fish cheering: Thanks to all who sent in memories of Woodstock, including Newsday’s Paul Fleishman, who notes that people used to say “very cool” when he mentioned being at the festival, but now just think “very old.”

“The tipping point was about five years ago,” he estimated.

Fleishman said he was a big Richie Havens fan at the time and has very clear memories of the folk singer’s performance. (Which is good, since Havens was the opening act.)

And a tip of the hat to Debbi Honorof, who reminded us that Sha Na Na cofounder Rob Leonard is now a professor of forensic linguistics at Hofstra. Sha Na Na performed on the Monday morning, just before Jimi Hendrix, and was paid a handsome $700 for the gig.

(Any of this coming back to you, Paul?)

And now, this: Looking for an accelerator or incubator in which to grow your foundling? You might consider France – and not just because the bread is so much better.

The French Tech Ticket program is looking for 70 international startups to move into one of 41 partner incubators for a yearlong program that kicks off in January. Winners get space, mentoring and other support – even financial, in some instances – via La French Tech, the publicly funded government initiative.

The deadline for applications is next Thursday, however, so dépêchez-vous.

Tightening: Long Island added almost 16,000 private sector jobs in the year ending in July, an increase of 1.4 percent. The local private sector job count increased by 5,800 between June and July, when a loss of 4,500 jobs is typical.

July marked the second consecutive month of record high monthly gains. The construction industry continues to hire at a rapid clip, adding 4,100 jobs in July, more than six times the average gain of 600 and a record high for the month. Restaurants also added a record number of jobs (+2,900) when a loss of 700 is typical.

Five of the nine private industry sectors gained jobs in July compared to a year ago, including education and health services (+7,900), construction (+6,600), leisure and hospitality (+4,700), other services (+1,800) and financial activities (+1,000). The government sector tacked on 700 jobs.

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Taken for granted: The Feinstein Institute’s Kevin Tracey and Ping Wang have been awarded five-year, multimillion dollar-grants from the National Institutes of Health to continue their research. Tracey, as you know if you read this regularly, is the father of bioelectronic medicine and is focusing on molecular mechanisms that control inflammation. Wang is studying white blood cell activity during sepsis.

Bonding, the rock and hard place: Land use expert Michael Sahn considers the dilemma facing local governments over sorely needed infrastructure improvements. The choices: Borrow now when bond rates are low – even if you’re not sure you’ll be able to pay it back later; or push off the decision, guaranteeing higher costs and no added certainty on repayment.

Keeping us in stitches: Morey Mayeri wants to resuscitate Long Island’s once-great apparel manufacturing sector. This time, with a made-local, save-the-environment vibe. Oh, and higher quality never hurts.

Now that flossing is out: Traverse Biosciences has landed a $1.32 million small business technology transfer award to study the effectiveness of one of its patented compounds in the fight against human periodontal disease. TRB-N0224, as it’s known, is already being studied for use in pets and as a treatment for human lung injuries.